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24 January 2019

FCA announcement to help mortgage prisoners is opportunity to contact qualifying customers and cement relationships

CLS Money, the Essex based mortgage brokerage, has warned advisers that the time is right to revisit all of those customers, who have struggled to remortgage and become ‘mortgage prisoners’.

Clayton Shipton, Managing Director of CLS, says that in light of the FCA’s announcement last week to ‘take immediate action’ to review the affordability guidelines lenders must follow, that have effectively trapped many thousands of borrowers, brokers should waste no time in being in touch with their customers who are still affected and tell them that there is now some good news to share.

He said, “Lenders have already done as much as they can to ease the plight of borrowers stuck in mortgage limbo while remaining true to the regulator’s guidelines on affordability. Now, the FCA, to its credit, has recognised the unintentional consequences of the blanket guidelines it set out and rightly is acting to relieve the situation.

It will take a little more time for consultation with the industry to lead to action, but I would recommend that every broker should be going back to their client banks right now and look for the cases where they have been unable to help customers in the past. By making them aware that their advisers are working hard behind the scenes for them in this way, they will not only retain the loyalty of those customers but also provide another opportunity to undertake a review of other needs.

We are already planning to contact customers to let them know there is likely to be good news and that their situations are in good hands with us.”

Clayton continued, “In 2019, all of us advisers need to work smarter in a more challenging market to ensure that our businesses continue to be successful. This is a great way to prepare existing customers for the opportunity to remortgage to a better deal. But be aware that if advisers don’t take action now, it is highly likely that those customers will go elsewhere for help as soon as the chance to move lenders comes up.”